Tracking John Barclay to Minnesota

Since I was not having much success in Connecticut in finding John Barclay, my 2nd great-grandfather, I turned my attention to Minnesota. John Barclay makes his appearance in Shakopee, Minnesota in 1853.

John is mentioned in a book: History of the Minnesota Valley, including the Explorers and Pioneers of Minnesota and History of the Sioux Massacre, by Rev. Edward D. Neill and Charles S. Bryant published in 1882, Eagle Creek, [Shakopee, Scott Co., Minnesota], page 315.

“The settlers continued to arrive in large numbers during the fall of 1852 and throughout the year 1853, the earlier of whom were as follows: Thomas Kennedy arrived in the fall of 1852 and moved on to his present claim in spring 1853; Edward Smith came in spring of 1853 and located his present claim in the north-eastern quarter of section 20 the same year; Alex. Dorward also came that year, together with Benjamin W. Turner, John Masters, Lyman Ruby, John Barclay and Horace Fuller. These all located in different parts of the town, and most of them are still living upon their original claims.”

Ancestry.com has this book scanned on their website. You can probably get to it through the Ancestry Library edition at your local library.

Eagle Creek Road Sign

This is the first sighting of John Barclay that I have found. I have tried to get him back further and closer to Connecticut but so far he is not cooperating. I knew about John from the “Logsleds to Snowmobiles” book and from my Aunt Miriam’s notes. I could not resist the sign and the name.

Shakopee Minnesota 2007

I have traveled to Minnesota and the last time was in 2007 when I went to Shakopee to do more research on John Barclay and his second family. This is a view of a main street in Shakopee.

Hi Stacey… i ran across this post while researching my family tree, trying to track down Lyman Ruby, as he is part of my tree, as I believe this is the same Lyman (married in Ashtabula OH ~1849 born about 1823)

Things to Ponder

The header photo of the Mississippi River near Brainerd and the headwaters of the river. From the Minnesota Nature Conservancy Website.

Leola May Blinn may be the daughter of Sarah A. Blinn a sister of George and Alexander. I have added new information as of 6/10/2016 to the post about another of Alexander's siblings. Just put Leola into the search engine and you should find the information.

Table of content pages have been added to the top of this blog. Each page covers a family grouping and the posts published on this blog about that family and other blogs that I write on. HOVER over the titles at the top of this page and other pages titles will drop down. 1/22/2016

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